September 2025 Updates

E. K. Donaldson
Sep 11
4 min read

New Book!

Back in 2014, I was an eager teenage writer wanting to share my stories with the world. I had almost no knowledge of the publishing world and no clue how to market a book. Well, my book got published but it had several grammar errors. I misunderstood the self-publishing agreement and ended up regretting everything. Still, my book remained on Amazon, and I thought that I would never publish again.

Can you still buy my first book from 11 years ago? You are not supposed to, but I do see it listed on Amazon with the option to buy. I have not tried and I do not know how I would get the royalties from it since the company that held the account no longer exists. Here is how that happened. The self-publishing company that I went with ended up being bought out by another company. I still kept all the same rights as before (including publishing rights) and so on. However, I received an email last year that the company that had bought them out was shutting down their self-publishing service. I had to pay money to transfer the book over to my own Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing Account otherwise it would be taken down and people would not be able to purchase it anymore. Unfortunately, I was in a tough spot financially at the time. I ended up deciding it was for the best for me to just let it be taken down. But when I went to see my new book on Amazon, my old book was listed too. Not only that, but it had the option to purchase it! I tried to reach out to the company but apparently, they don't even exist anymore. What a turn of events!

After 11 years of uncertainty and shame surrounding this book, I have finally come to realize and accept that I have to learn somehow. I will make mistakes. If I wait until I understand everything about the self-publishing world and have the perfect book, I will never publish anything. Then, the stories that flood my brain and fill the pages in Microsoft Word will forever go unknown by anyone but me. While it would be easier to just say that it isn't the right time or something isn't good enough, I do not want to settle with the easy way out. I want to challenge myself to grow and to share my stories with others. I do not want to sit at home, too afraid to tell the tales that I think of. With all that said, I am so excited to say that I have published a second edition of Shadows: The Beginning. It is now available to purchase on Amazon. The original was only an eBook for the Kindle, but this updated and improved second edition is available in paperback as well as eBook. You can purchase it using the links below!

Paperback

eBook

Stories Have Power

In July, I started posting a Saturday morning comic. Follow along via the blog or social media as four unwitting stories discover that they have power and other valuable lessons. You can also purchase products featuring the four stories from the merch store. Be sure to follow me on social media and subscribe to email updates for more on this!

Other Published Works

My book, Why Do I Write? was published on July 1st! You can purchase it as an eBook or paperback. It is a reflective autobiography exploring various lessons I have learned in my life so far. It is my hope that by telling my story, that others in similar situations as me would be encouraged. Click the link below to purchase. It is available in paperback and eBook.

https://a.co/d/gsJ02A8

Upcoming Publications

After I publish my next book hopefully in November, I will be done for this year. In 2026, I hope to publish 2-4 books. As of right now, I will plan on publishing the second book in the Shadows series in February. Then, I will publish the fantasy book I am editing. I will share more details as I progress through the publishing process. Stay tuned for updates and announcements regarding my next book coming out in November.

Writings in Progress

The fantasy book I have been writing is done. I will set it aside for now. I like to take a break from a work at various points throughout the writing process. I have begun working on another story I have started but not finished. It is a romance mystery story.

YouTube Vlog

I am still working on getting my vlog on YouTube started. It was my goal to have it going by the end of July, but I have a confession. I kept putting it off. At first it was because I was really busy getting all the milk things going and so on. Stories Have Power had also taken a huge civil of time. However, I finally filmed my introduction video a few weeks ago. After deciding to have my Vlog be all about my journey of overcoming perfectionism, I ended up spending weeks waiting for the "perfect" moment to film and I wanted to have a few videos filmed before I posted the first one but again, I keep waiting for things to be just right. Oh the irony. But I think it just goes to show that it is very difficult to overcome perfectionism. Anyways, I refuse to allow myself go another month like this. So, even if it is 11:59pm on the last day of September, I will at least post my introductory video.

If you haven't already, be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram as well. You can subscribe to email updates at the bottom of this page!